MARTIN (Louis-Aimé)

Lot 118
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Estimation :
2000 - 3000 EUR
MARTIN (Louis-Aimé)
Letters to Sophie, on physics, chemistry, and natural history. With Notes by Mr. Patrin. Third edition, corrected and expanded. Paris, H. Nicolle, Le Normant, 1811. 4 volumes in-18, of XLIV and 240 pp. ; VII and 268 pp. ; VII pp., 1 f.n.ch. (Du feu) and 282 pp. ; VII and 197 pp. 1 f.n.ch.: long-grained red half-marocco, varnished plates of green paper decorated with a large gilded flower painted in the centre, roulette in the frame, smooth spine decorated with special irons, gilt edges (period binding). Charming edition decorated with 4 frontispices engraved in intaglio after Massard and Boquet. Louis-Aimé Martin (1782-1847), pupil and friend of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre whose widow he married and adopted his daughter, Virginie, professed belles-lettres and was librarian at Sainte-Geneviève. His Letters to Sophie, published in 1810, established his reputation and was a great success at the time, as attested by the various editions listed in the Gumuchian catalogue under nos. 3976 to 3982. Originally intended for young people, the book offers both literary entertainment and a complete course in science on various subjects: gravity, attraction, sound, light, the dark room, electricity, fire, water, air, the animal and vegetable kingdoms, volcanoes, meteors, the origin of balloons, etc. The book is also a great source of information for young people. Delicious contemporary binding of supreme elegance, with leather spine and green paper plates decorated with a floral decoration painted with gold and then varnished; the flowers are different on each of the plates. From the library of Doctor Lucien-Graux, with ex-libris. Two loose leaves in volume I, some slight reddish-brown spots.
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